John Collicutt from Great Wakering in Essex was at Spurs as a youth player during the late 1950s. Collicutt joined Spurs after playing for their nursery club Canvey Boys and he would end up playing for a talented Spurs youth team of the time of which included future first team player Frank Saul. A versatile player who could play as an inside-forward or in a more central position, John Collicutt’s time at Spurs unfortunately came to an end mainly because of injury. He would later play for Southend United at youth team level and then Romford, where he played with Spurs great Ted Ditchburn. I recently had the great pleasure and privilege of talking to John about his time at Spurs in the 1950s.

What are your earliest footballing memories?

John: My earliest memories was of playing quite well in my school team where I was captain, and then I played for my district team which was Southeast Essex who I was captain of as well. I had done pretty well and I also got selected to play for Essex Schools and London Schools, and with London Schools I played with a few lads who did well and one of them who did pretty well was Terry Venables from Dagenham.

What are your earliest memories of your time at Spurs and how did you come about joining the club?

John: I played for Canvey Boys as it was known then and I was asked to play for them and that was not too far from where I lived and was brought up. At that time Canvey were a nursery club of Tottenham and I was playing for their under 18 team when I was barely 14, and that was the same team that Frank Saul played for so it was really through there that I ended up at Spurs. Whether it was the right decision or not I don’t know, because I could have gone to Ipswich which is still one of my favourite teams and also Southend who were my local team. However, I went to Tottenham when I was only 15 and I can honestly say that it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

Did you have any footballing heroes/inspirations and if so who were they?

John: I didn’t really have a lot of football heroes but I liked a lot of players and from my village Great Wakering there were a few lads who were a few years older than me who played football. One was Peter Sampson who played for Bristol Rovers and another was Les Stubbs who played for Chelsea and he won the Championship with Chelsea in 1955. So we had a few players who came from my village at the time and it was quite a hotbed of football was our village.

 Could you describe to me what type of player you were and what positions you played in during your time at Spurs?

John: Most of the time when I played for Essex and London I played out on the left wing but for a start I really don’t think that that was my right position, as I was better playing in the centre of the field or playing as an inside-right/inside-forward. My career at Tottenham never really took off very well and it just never happened for me, put it that way. 

Who were your greatest influences at Spurs?

John: Most of the senior players were lovely lads such as Danny Blanchflower and Bobby Smith who was a nice bloke. Another one was the goalkeeper Ted Ditchburn.

Were there any players at Spurs who you would watch closely to try and improve your game or look to learn from?

John: There was actually and this player was still an amateur and an England international and he was George Robb, and I liked him as he was a nice man. He helped me a lot and he had plenty of time to speak to you and to try and help you, but most of them did but not all of them as some of them wouldn’t give you the time of day but most of the senior professionals were pretty good. The reserves, youth team and the A team used to use all the same dressing rooms at the time in the week, but my time at Spurs just never really took off for me. I went to Spurs in 1958 because I stayed for an extra term to play for London at school level, and after about two or three months there at Spurs I got quite a bad knee injury when we were playing against Fulham’s youth team. I had fallen over but another chap had fallen over me on my leg, and I thought that my leg was going to break but it didn’t although the knee broke really, and so I did all of my ligaments and everything else. So I had a couple of months out injured and to be honest after that it was never really the same again.

What prompted you to leave Spurs and could you talk me through your career after you left the Lilywhites?

John: Well I really didn’t leave of my own decision as it was Bill Nicholson the managers decision, and I don’t know why but he never did seem to take to me much even if I was playing well. In actual fact it wasn’t him that signed me as it was Jimmy Anderson and by the time that I’d left school and went to Spurs he had gone and Bill Nicholson was in charge, and he never seemed to have a lot of time for not only me but most of the lads at the time. Although he did like Frank Saul and Frank had this terrific left foot which was a real talent and if he hit the ball and it was on target then not many keepers could stop it as it was a terrific shot, and that was his main asset really and it served him well. After leaving Spurs I went to Southend where I played for their youth team and I also played for Romford for a while when they were in the Southern League, and at that time that was the next league down from the Football League. There were upcoming and old players there and so that was quite good, but that’s when my knee went completely after I had run for the ball and I couldn’t really put my foot on the ground. And that really ended it for me as I just couldn’t get myself fit enough again to play at that level but I did play for quite a few years (three or four) for my local team Great Wakering Rovers and we were quite a force in our District League, and we quite dominated the local football scene at that time. I quite enjoyed my football there but I knew really in my mind that it should have been so much more, but it didn’t happen.

What was your time at the Lilywhites like on the whole?

John: It was alright and it wasn’t bad and I can’t say that I really got excited about anything really. We had a different coach for the youth team called Andy Thompson and he wasn’t there in the week and so the only time that we saw him was on a Saturday afternoon and so you didn’t know that much at all, whether you wasn’t playing and you didn’t know if that was his decision or a joint decision if your name wasn’t on the sheet. Nobody really taught you a lot and told you if you were doing this right or that right or if you weren’t training hard enough or whatever, so there wasn’t really any close coaching as I expected to get at Tottenham at the time.

What was the greatest moment of your footballing career?

John: It’s got to be before I really had a career I suppose when I was playing for the County and for London. As a starstruck kid from out in the sticks in a country village  to be playing for the County and for London was really terrific and I was quite proud of myself at the time, not knowing how my career would turn out afterwards. Funnily enough I’m not saying that I was better than Frank Saul but as a 14 or 15 year old most people I think would have considered myself better than Frank at that time, but he did well and got his head down and did the right things I suppose, and hitting the back of the net was the main thing. So I was pleased for him but very disappointed for myself.

Who was the greatest player that you have had the pleasure of sharing a pitch with? 

John: As a youngster I knew all of the Spurs players but not personally and I’ve got to say that it was the goalkeeper Ted Ditchburn who I played with at Romford after his career was finished. And he was a really nice man and he would help you too, but at Tottenham I unexpectedly came across all of the England football team in the dressing room at Spurs as they were training there for a game at Wembley. There was Bobby Charlton, Nat Lofthouse, Billy Wright and all of the England players of that time, so that was quite a shock as a 15 year old.

Could you talk me through some of your favourite memories or ones which standout from your time in the various Tottenham youth teams?

John: I’ve got be honest that I didn’t have any outstanding moments in the Tottenham youth team and I don’t know why but it just didn’t seem to happen for me. I played with Roy Moss at Spurs and we were good friends and he was a nice man and when he turned 17 he did get signed on by Tottenham but he wasn’t there long before he went to Gillingham. 

 Who was toughest player that you ever came up against?

John: I only played practice games with him but I would have to say Dave Mackay as he was a really tough guy even though he wasn’t that big, but he was very stocky and strong, and as hard as nails. At that time he was like Tottenham’s enforcer.

Were there any players at Spurs who you were particularly close to?

John: There was one lad who played for the A team but I don’t know what happened to him after that and he was called Barrie Aitchison and he was a winger, and he played mainly in that time for the reserves or the A team. And I also got on well with Roy Moss who was from Maldon and also Frank Saul as well, and me and Frank used to travel back and forwards as he came from Canvey, but I would say that Roy was probably the best friend of mine really. 

What would your advice be to the young Spurs players of today as they look to break into the first team?

John: The only thing that I can really say is to get their head down and work hard and to not get any false ideas about yourself or whatever, and you’ve just got to work hard at it.

 After all these years how do you look back on your time at the Lilywhites and is Spurs a club who you still hold close to your heart?

John: I’ve got to be honest and my time at Spurs was not good for me and I rue the fact to be quite honest that I went to Tottenham. I wish that I’d have gone to a smaller club like Ipswich or somebody as I think that my chances would have been a lot better. I can’t really say that my time at the club was a happy time.

South Londoner Thomas Dudfield played as a right-back for Spurs’ youth team during his time at the club in the early 1970s. Dudfield (his son is former professional footballer Lawrie Dudfield) would later combine work with playing semi-professional with the likes of Walton & Hersham and Wembley after leaving Spurs. I recently had the great pleasure and privilege of talking to Thomas about his time at Spurs during the early 1970s.

What are your earliest footballing memories?

Thomas: That would be playing for the school team (the under 11s) when I was eight. 

What are your earliest memories of your time at Spurs and how did you come about joining the club?

Thomas: Well the postman used to come at half past eight on a Saturday, and I was waiting for a letter from Spurs to say yes or no. Half past eight came and there was no postman, half past nine came and there was no postman, half past ten and no postman, and then at half past 11 the postman came and I opened up the letter and it said that you’d been invited to an apprenticeship at Tottenham, so it was happy days! My earliest memory of my time at the club was going in every Tuesday and Thursday at the ground with John Pratt and Tony Want and also Ron Henry. So people like that were quite an influence on me, as I had seen people like that in the papers, but never in real life. 

 Did you have any footballing heroes/inspirations and if so who were they?

Thomas: Just football generally as everybody who played professional football I wanted to be. To be fair I actually wanted to be Harry Cripps of Millwall as he was a stalwart at Millwall. 

 Could you describe to me what type of player you were and what positions you played in during your time at Spurs?

Thomas: I played right-back and I was fairly attacking and I had a good football knowledge and brain, but my confidence wasn’t that great although going forward I was good. Heading was my let down though as I was terrible in the air no matter how hard I worked at it, it just never came. 

 Who were your greatest influences at Spurs?

Thomas: John Pratt, Tony Want and Ron Henry were the ones that sort of mentored me but I also had a soft spot for Pat Welton, but they were the biggest influences.

Were there any players at Spurs who you would watch closely to try and improve your game or look to learn from?

Thomas: The best player that I saw at Spurs was Graeme Souness as virtually he had everything, but I was never going to be a Graeme Souness. I really moulded myself on Joe Kinnear really.

What prompted you to leave Spurs and could you talk me through your career after you left the Lilywhites?

Thomas: I was playing really, really well and I went from the South East Counties League into the youth team with Souness where I made my debut against West Ham against a player called Johnny Ayris. He was a top, top player then and he was going to be the next George Best, but we played West Ham in a league game in the Junior League and Souness and Mike Dillon played as well as Terry Lee. I marked Johnny Ayris out of the game and I absolutely had him in my pocket and so that was a great day, and I had thought that I had made it then but unfortunately it was not to be. I had been playing really, really well until we had a Southern Junior Floodlit game at Aldershot and it had been raining for 24 hours and how the game was on I don’t know. Souness played in that game and we had a good team out against Aldershot but one minute in to the game I did a back pass and I got stuck in the mud and we were 1-0 down, and then three minutes in to the game I made another costly back pass, and my confidence completely went. Bill Nicholson said to me that you’re never going to make a professional footballer if you play like that, and at that time they had told me that they were going to sign me as pro but then my form just dipped after that and I had no confidence at all. After leaving Spurs I could have signed for Bournemouth and I played a trial for Millwall but then I just really decided to go semi-pro and I played for Walton & Hersham and Wembley, but I was earning a good living when I left Spurs because my granddad was a bookmaker. So he got me a job from Monday to Friday in the bookmaking trade and so I played football part-time.

What was your time at the Lilywhites like on the whole?

Thomas: Absolutely fantastic. When we won the League Cup in 1971 that team was just unbelievable with so many great players including Alan Gilzean who was one of the best players that I’ve ever seen. The memory was I used to live in Southeast London and we lived six floors up on a council estate and on the morning of that final I went down in the lift all suited and booted to make my way to White Hart Lane which was where we met, and the next thing I know I’m going up in the lift at the Savoy. So it was just unreal and I wouldn’t swap it for a million quid, and they say that it’s better to have been a has been than a never was! 

What was the greatest moment of your footballing career?

Thomas: Probably that game against West Ham where I marked Johnny Ayris out of the game, and you had people like Ray Clarke playing that day along with Graeme Souness. When people like that come up to you and say that was great the way that you marked him out of the game, I felt a million dollars.

Who was the greatest player that you have had the pleasure of sharing a pitch with? 

Thomas: On a pitch it was Graeme Souness but in regards to on a training pitch it was Alan Gilzean. He was a legend.

 Could you talk me through some of your favourite memories or ones which stand out from your time in the various Tottenham youth teams?

Thomas: Obviously going to see that League Cup final and going to the Savoy was a fantastic memory. I can remember going in one Boxing Day when we had played badly on the Saturday and Pat Welton got us in for training and Danny Clapton was there along with Chris McGrath. Alan Gilzean was there and he was injured, but we did all our training and did a bit of sweeping up in the gym and then afterwards Alan Gilzean invited us for a drink in the White Hart pub, and we ended up coming out of there about four hours later a bit the worse for wear!

 Who was toughest player that you ever came up against?

Thomas: Graeme Souness. He had studs growing out of his feet and he was just a hard man.

Were there any players at Spurs who you were particularly close to?

Thomas: There used to be a group of us of which included Danny Clapton, Chris McGrath who went on to play for Millwall and Man United and also Kevin Worsfold and Phil Ward. Me, Phil and Danny Clapton used to go out all of the time.

What would your advice be to the young Spurs players of today as they look to break into the first team?

Thomas: Just work and also remember your background and who you are and that I imagine will put you in good stead. 

After all these years how do you look back on your time at the Lilywhites and is Spurs a club who you still hold close to your heart?

Thomas: I always look out for Spurs’ results although I’ve not been to the new ground yet. It’s actually been 50 years this year since we were playing and I did actually try and get a reunion going but not too many people replied.

Wayne Cegielski was a strong and commanding centre-half during his playing days. From Bedwellty in South Wales, Wayne Cegielski (former Wales under 21 international) joined Spurs in the early 1970s and he signed apprentice forms with the club in the summer of 1972. Wayne worked his way up the ranks at Spurs and the man who captained the Tottenham Hotspur youth team to winning the 1974 FA Youth Cup would also go on to become a regular for the reserve side, although he never played for the Spurs first team. Cegielski would later enjoy a very good career in the game, playing for the likes of Tacoma Tides, Wrexham, Port Vale and Hereford United. I recently had the great pleasure and privilege of interviewing Wayne about his time at Spurs in the 1970s.

What are your earliest footballing memories?

Wayne: I used to train at Cardiff City on a Tuesday and a Thursday with the schoolboys, and I used to get a train from where I used to live in South Wales in one of the valleys, and then make my way to the Cardiff City training pitch. When I got to the age when Cardiff were choosing the apprentices they said that they didn’t want me as an apprentice. Then on the following Saturday I played in a game and unbeknown to myself there was a Tottenham Hotspur scout watching, and so he came up to my parents and asked if we (Spurs) could sign your son as an apprentice, and so that was how it first started.

What are your earliest memories of your time at Spurs?

Wayne: Going back to the beginning that would be cleaning the gym and the changing rooms which were the early memories of what we used to have to do. I also remember being amongst all of the famous footballers which was an amazing thing, and to be part of that family was wonderful. Of course I remember playing in the reserves when I was a young professional and playing with the so called stars of the Tottenham Hotspur side was fantastic, and you would make your friends and as apprentices we were all pretty good friends, and then also when we became professionals as well. 

 Did you have any footballing heroes/inspirations and if so who were they?

Wayne: Funnily enough they were mainly Leeds United strikers as well as the centre-half Mike England, as he played in the position that I played. So they were the type of players that I used to think of as a youngster and then all of a sudden you’re in London and you’re amongst all of these famous people. All of the first team footballers at Tottenham were all wonderful, wonderful people and they would do anything to help you. 

 Could you describe to me what type of player you were and what positions you played in during your time at Spurs?

Wayne: I was a centre-half and I was a type of man marker and so if there was a centre-forward who was playing then I would obviously mark them. In those days when the goalkeeper kicked the ball long you had to head the ball or what have you, and you would have to win the ball when a centre-forward came up against you, so that was my job really as a centre-half in them days, which is completely different to today. I learnt off the stars of the Spurs first team as I went through the ranks at Spurs and became a professional.

Who were your greatest influences at Spurs?

Wayne: To start with it was Mike England as obviously he was a centre-half, but there was also Alan Gilzean, Cyril Knowles, Martin Chivers and Phil Holder who would always ask us if he could do anything to help us. Pat Jennings was wonderful and he was always very fast, and all of the sprinting competitions he would win, but also there was Martin Peters and Joe Kinnear, so they were all very, very nice people. There was always a bit of animosity if someone didn’t make the reserve team but that happens in all football teams, but going back those were the people that I looked up to.

Were there any players at Spurs who you would watch closely to try and improve your game or look to learn from?

Wayne: Cyril Knowles was one and he was a great attacking footballer and I used to think to myself that he never used to get caught out. There was also Terry Naylor when he got in the first team and he was somebody who would always let you know if you had done something wrong, and so players would come up to you and say that you should be doing this rather than doing that, and they were the things that you had to learn. 

What prompted you to leave Spurs and could you talk me through your career after you left the Lilywhites?

Wayne: I was due to make my first team debut for Spurs against Coventry City on Boxing Day one year, and apparently my name was on the team list. Mike England had got injured with an ankle injury, but when I got to the ground at one o’clock on the Saturday I was told that Mike England had had an injection and that he was going to be playing. Within three weeks I’d been sent out on loan to Northampton Town and so basically that was it and that summer I was going to be leaving the club. Obviously we had a knew manager (Terry Neill) and he didn’t fancy me being in the first team but that’s football and I would get used to that over the years when the manager doesn’t think that you’re going to be in his team. After I left Tottenham I went to play in Germany, and I played for six months in Germany before coming back to the UK and then went out to America to play there for that summer. When I came back from America I went to Wrexham and I played for Wrexham for six years and we managed to get to the old Second Division, but after that I went to Port Vale and stayed there for three seasons. Then from Port Vale I went to Blackpool on loan, and then from Blackpool I went to Hereford where I stayed for two years, and after that I decided to finish playing football when I got to the age of 31.

What was your time at the Lilywhites like on the whole?

Wayne: I had a wonderful time and to be captain of the FA Youth Cup winning team was absolutely wonderful, and you can’t ask for more than that really. I can always say that I had a wonderful time at Spurs and I still think about them all of the time, and I make sure that I watch them play on the television when I can. When the scores comes on on a Saturday Tottenham Hotspur is one of the clubs that I look at to see the scores. 

What was the greatest moment of your footballing career?

Wayne: I think winning the Third Division Championship with Wrexham was the one, and the team that we had there was absolutely fantastic. People say that they have never had such a wonderful time watching Wrexham because of the way that we played, and to win so many matches in the FA Cup made other teams be afraid of coming to the football ground at Wrexham because they knew that they were going to be in for a tough game. We even played Tottenham down at Tottenham and we won there, but all of the First Division clubs used to hate to come to Wrexham because they always knew that they were going to have a really, really hard game. However, winning the FA Youth Cup with Tottenham was another wonderful thing and you can honestly say that not a lot of people do that, but the football team that we had at that time saw all 11 players go on to play in some part of the Football League, and you can’t say that very often for a lot of teams. And a lot of that team played over 200 football games which is a wonderful thing, and it shows just what great scouts Tottenham had at that time. 

Who was the greatest player that you have had the pleasure of sharing a pitch 

with? 

Wayne: I would say Martin Chivers because I looked at him and thought that he had everything that a football player wanted, as he was just such a wonderful player, and everything seemed so easy for him. When I was at Spurs Martin was always very nice but in my eyes he always stood out.

As captain of the Spurs youth team which won the 1973/74 FA Youth Cup could you talk me your memories of that campaign?

Wayne: It was up and down really because most games were very, very difficult through to the quarter-finals and then when we got to the semi-finals we were playing Arsenal and unfortunately I had two bookings. That took me over the number of bookings that you could have, so I had to go in front of the Football League and ask if it was possible to have one of the yellow cards taken away (I had been booked for arguing with one of the linesmen) and fortunately they agreed to take one away, because at that time I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to play in the final. But the games were very, very difficult because you were playing against teams who wanted to beat you because you were Tottenham Hotspur, but we had the players to deal with all of the different prospects of how the game went on, and at the end of the day we won, and I can still remember the team now.

Could you talk me through some of your favourite memories or ones which stand out from your time in the various Tottenham youth teams?

Wayne: The FA Youth Cup game against Arsenal stood out because that was a very important game and then also in the final when we played Huddersfield Town. Funnily enough many years later when I was at Port Vale I actually met Bob Newton who was the centre-forward for Huddersfield in the final, and he always used to say to me that Spurs shouldn’t have won the FA Youth Cup because Huddersfield were the better side, but my response was that at the end of the day we won it. Playing in the reserves with the first team members who were coming back from injuries or who were on the sides, those times were great times and wonderful experiences which obviously came good for me later on in my footballing career. So I’ll never forget playing in the reserve side for Spurs.

Who was toughest player that you ever came up against?

Wayne: Sam Allardyce. I’ll always remember corners with big Sam because he was one to worry about because of the way that he played. There was also an Everton centre-forward whose name I can’t remember, but that was the beauty of playing at that time against a centre-forward as it was like a battle between the two of you and whoever would come out on top would be the one who would win the game. So in every game that you played you had to make sure that the centre forward who was playing didn’t have any chances to score goals, and that was the hardest part of being a centre-half in those days. I had some wonderful times in my career, such as playing in Europe with Wrexham and making the FA Cup quarter-finals, and now hopefully they can get back in the Football League, because the Wrexham supporters were fantastic.

Were there any players at Spurs who you were particularly close to?

Wayne: Chris McGrath was one who I was very close with as well as Andy Keeley, and also Bobby Scarth, but we used to be all good friends being in the youth team at Spurs. We all sort of stayed together after football training and went out together to wherever in groups of five or six, but because myself, Andy Keeley and Chris McGrath all lived together in the same household we all sort of tended to do our things together. Chris and I obviously couldn’t get down to South Wales or Ireland at the weekends, so we were good friends.

 What would your advice be to the young Spurs players of today as they look to break into the first team?

Wayne: I’d say to keep training, always give your best on the football pitch and always remember that there are other players around you that are going to help you, and you can help them also. By doing that everything on the football pitch should run right, but at the end of the day if you give 100% then the supporters will always want to see you because you’re always giving 100%, or 105%, or 110% on that pitch. That is all that they ask of a football player that when you step over that white line that you give your all on that football pitch, but I would never want to be a footballer of today I don’t think, because number one everyone wants to know what you’re doing or what you are about. We didn’t have that in our day, and I would hate if I was walking down the street if somebody would come up to me with a camera and just take my picture with a mobile phone, and that’s something that you don’t want all of the time, but that’s life today as a footballer.

After all these years how do you look back on your time at the Lilywhites and is Spurs a club who you still hold close to your heart?

Wayne: Of course I do. I was a young lad at 14 when I went to London from one of the valleys in South Wales, and just to be in a big place like London was a massive thing for me. The people around the football club made my time really good and comfortable, and I’ll always have that in me that Tottenham Hotspur looked after me as a young player, and for that I am so grateful. I will always have them in my heart as they gave me the first opportunity to do something that I always wanted to do, which was to play football and they gave me that opportunity. So they will always be there with me until the day I die.

Gerry McKee was Spurs’ Northern Ireland scout and has had an association with the Club Academy for over 25 Years in an employed and voluntary capacity. During that period, the man with a great knowledge of Northern Irish youth football would recommend players to the club. From a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland called Keady, McKee was a boyhood Spurs supporter, and he was delighted to be asked to become Spurs’ scout for Northern Ireland in 1994. A man with a great eye for talent, Gerry has continued to recommend players to the club although no longer formally employed by the club. I recently had the great pleasure and privilege of talking at length with Gerry as he looked back on his time as Spurs’ Northern Ireland scout. 

What is your earliest footballing memory?

Gerry: I remember the Cup Winners Cup match v Manchester United in 1963 and for some reason I just took to the team at that time even though they lost. My next memory was John White being killed by lightning I had never heard of anything like that before, that coincided with Pat Jennings signing for the club and over here that was big news. Pat later told me his first official function for the club was to attend John’s funeral. I would have listened out for results in the intervening years but my first real memory of an actual match would have been the ‘67 Cup Final v Chelsea, after that I was hooked.

Did you play the game at any level?

Gerry: I grew up in a town in Northern Ireland which was predominantly Gaelic orientated and at school we only played Gaelic Sports so there was no opportunity to play soccer apart from informal street leagues, it was not until my late teens/early 20s when I started to play works league football but nothing of any significance. However, I was always involved in the administration or organisation of games and competitions, so I always had a love for the game.

Did you have any footballing heroes or inspirations and if so, who were they?

Gerry: At that stage it was predominantly always goalkeepers even though I am only about 5’6”! That was probably driven by Pat who would be my ultimate hero, I always collected photos of Keepers Lev Yashin, Peter Bonetti, Harry Gregg, Ron Springett, Gordon Banks etc and then Spurs Players, Steve Perryman and latterly Ledley would have been top of the list.

What is your earliest memory as a Spurs scout and how did you come about joining the club as their Northern Ireland scout?

Gerry: In 1991 Tottenham were bringing a team over to the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland and the guy who was head of recruitment at the time was John Moncur, I happened to get in contact with John. I was managing a team at the competition which was a select of the Youth Training Programme (YTS in England). Through that contact I became acquainted with John and Head of the Academy Peter Suddaby and over the following two or three years I brought a couple of teams across to play games in England and had coaching sessions arranged for the boys at the club. The first group that were over was in 1992 when we were based at Mill Hill and Patsy Holland took the session and again in 1993 we had a session at the ball court at White Hart Lane and Chris Hughton took that. Both coaches were terrific with the kids and they were memorable trips. Then in 1994 Robert Walker who had been the club scout in Northern Ireland stood down. I was in contact with John Moncur on another matter and he said he knew I was heavily involved in Youth Football in Northern Ireland and asked me if I would like the role. I could have walked from here across the Irish Sea to London that was the way that I felt, to grow up supporting a club and then being offered the opportunity to physically do something for them was to me the greatest thing ever. 

One of the first players that I recommended to Spurs was the goalkeeper Roy Carroll, and at the time we had Chris Day and Simon Brown at Spurs who were England internationals. I think that the club just thought that they did not need another goalkeeper and so Roy signed for Hull, within a short space of time he had signed for Wigan and then Manchester United. I really thought that signing Roy was a missed opportunity for us as neither Chris or Simon really played for us, but that’s the way it was. Then Ciaran Toner and Ciaran Duffin went to Spurs at the same time, they were followed by Jonathan Black, Mark Hughes and then Kieran McKenna who is now the first team coach at Manchester United. There were other lads too and to be fair most of the lads who had gone across have signed for some club or another. While those players did not make the ultimate breakthrough at Tottenham Ciaran Toner and Mark Hughes went on to have successful careers in the game in the lower divisions. Little twists can have a major impact on a player’s career and George Graham liked Ciaran Toner and was in his plans but just as that opportunity was opening George left, and Glenn Hoddle came in and suddenly all changed. Mark Hughes was featuring in pre-season under Jacques Santini but again that was another opportunity that did not get the chance to develop. A lot of it is about being in the right place at the right time.

 Injuries also play a part as in Kieran McKenna’s case, so there is a lot of luck that goes with making that final breakthrough. In Kieran’s case he did come back to the club in a coaching role at the Academy and Ciaran Toner and Mark Hughes also have taken up coaching roles at clubs, Jonathan Black is now coaching in the USA. I believe that shows the boys who did go over were driven and committed to succeed in football. At the time when you’re 16, 17, 18 you think that you’ve given everything to football but it’s only when you come out the other end that you realise what more you possibly needed to do to convince the guys at the club that you warranted more effort or commitment. Back in those days If you were a kid going over from Ireland the coaches would generally give you an extra year or more time to develop that physical and technical ability, but that has now changed and so players have got to hit the ground running when they go over to England and that’s very, very difficult. In 2005 that all changed because the guys who were running the Academy at Spurs left and when John McDermott came in his philosophy was probably to have more of a London based club. If you look at the makeup of the Academy since that time it is predominantly London based players.

Having told me some of your early memories of being a Spurs scout could you talk me through the rest of your career as a scout for the club?

Gerry: When I was a scout it was a lot of hours a lot of miles, and a lot of watching football for the one person who you think may have the opportunity. My preferred way of doing things was after six months or so of watching games and watching players I would get a representative team of those players that I thought had a chance. I would then speak to John Moncur and he would either come over himself or send someone from the club who knew the standard, and it meant then that if they were picking someone out of the group that I had preselected then it meant that when they would then take across someone on trial they had a foot in the door. They had come, they had looked at them and assessed them and said that they could be possibly better than what we had at the club. You knew that you were getting a positive second opinion on the player and the player had confidence then in going across. The other option then was of just sending a player in, I found that when that happened that they were probably not sleeping the night before the trial and were nervous/excited, and they were probably being asked to do things that they weren’t doing with their club. Maybe the coaches in some cases were over assessing how they were doing in one-on-one situations, where as their club might have been discouraging that and asking for pass and move and that type of movement, so I found the former approach was more successful. 

When you went down the line and the Academy people changed then that all changed but being a scout for Spurs was a labour of love and I would basically get out two, three or four times a week if there were youth games on, and I would just watch and observe. Then one day someone like Kieran McKenna would do something and just show a flash of something that was over and above the norm and you knew that the lad had the intelligence and potential to go and take his chance. The understanding of the game that Kieran had is very, very important now because so many lads have talent, but they don’t understand the game and don’t understand where to run to or where to be. However, my one regret is that none of the players that I scouted for Spurs played for the first team (in a competitive game). The difficulty now is that clubs in England have programmes for young players in the community, and so recently you have players like Dane Scarlett who have been at the club from 6 years of age. Our lads can’t go over to England until they’re 14 so you are potentially eight years behind in that development association with the club and coaches.

Would you be able to tell me some interesting players who would go onto make it in the game that you recommended to Spurs?

Gerry: Roy Carroll was the obvious one, but I was also very interested in Paddy McNair and he was the best player I saw in that time however, he was always destined to go to Manchester United, that was a familiar path for young players from here. The support is predominantly for United, Liverpool, Celtic & Rangers. Darren Gibson was another who finished at United and then Everton. Darren always seemed to score against us! 

What was your time at the Lilywhites like on the whole?

Gerry: I loved it and I loved being able to do something for the club, it was a privilege to represent the club that I support and that was it. I have made friends at the club and know that I can always go back to watch the youth games. The head of the Academy Dean Rastrick is a gentleman and others that I’ve known from years ago like Perry Suckling and Jason Hogg as well as the kit man Stanley White, so those are the people that I would look to meet if and when I can get back.

I also had the U18 Youth Team under Peter Suddaby and Patsy Holland over in Northern Ireland for their pre-season and had set up the training camp and two friendlies against a NI Counties Select and then against the Northern Ireland International team and both of those games were at Glenavon FC.

Who were your greatest influences at Spurs?

Gerry: John Moncur without doubt, I will always be grateful to John for the opportunity to work for the club. Patsy Holland, Chris Hughton and Bob Arber were also very generous with their time. Later on Richard Allen and Dean Rastrick were always available if you needed advice.

What do you feel was your greatest contribution to Spurs as a scout?

Gerry: I hope honesty. I always went out with the intention of trying to deliver something for the club. Everything that I did for the club I tried to do it honestly and in the best interests of the club, and to represent the club in the best way possible.

Are there any memories from your time as Spurs’ Northern Ireland scout which stand out to you?

Gerry: After I had managed the YTP teams for four years at the Milk Cup tournament I was appointed manager of the County Armagh team that would participate in that competition and held that post for the next 21 years. In 1996 we played a Tottenham team that contained Peter Crouch, Ledley King and David Lee (Ciaran Toner and Ciaran Duffin also played), and Bobby Arber was the manager at the time. We (County Armagh) played Spurs in the opening match of the tournament at the Showgrounds in Coleraine and recorded a 0-0 draw. Tottenham were really fancied to win the tournament and in the end they did, we also had Hearts and a team from Canada in the group stages. The nerves I had before the game of possibly being embarrassed by the result but at the same time the excitement of being able to play against Spurs in competition. So just to play against Spurs was probably one of the most memorable moments of my involvement in youth football. 

What would your advice be to the young Spurs players of today as they look to make it in the game?

Gerry: Listen! The coaches and mentors at the club know their job. Just look at the record the Academy has over the last 30 years. Above all the talent you must have the desire to succeed. Never give up. If you are at the Tottenham Academy you have talent and there is a pathway in the game for you at some level even if that is not ultimately at Tottenham. Finally, keep on top of your education. Football is a short career and injuries can restrict it even further and it is important to plan for a future without football.

After all these years how do you look back on your time with the Lilywhites and is Spurs a club who still hold close to your heart?

Gerry: I love them! I was a supporter before I had the privilege to work for them and I will always be a supporter. That goes right from following the fortunes of the Academy from the 16s, 18s and 23s through to the first team. This season at the time of writing Spurs have played 42 matches and including the pre-season friendly away to Watford I have not missed a minute of any one of those games, some better than others! Lockdown has helped with that. All being well when we are allowed spectators into the games I will be back over. I was at the last match at White Hart Lane against Manchester United with my son Simon and we stayed at the ground until late into the evening and the emotion was just unbelievable. Spurs are my club and always will be.

Uxbridge born goalkeeper Peter Shearing would go on to have a successful playing career in the game, but his first professional club as a youth player was Tottenham Hotspur. Joining the club during the 1955/56 season not long before Jimmy Anderson took over as manager from the legendary Arthur Rowe. A commanding and vocal goalkeeper, Shearing played for Spurs’ youth team of which notably included Freddie Sharpe, but he also played for the A team in the Eastern Counties League on occasions, and also the reserves on the odd occasion. However, with such great goalkeepers ahead of him it would have been extremely difficult for Peter to have broken in to the Spurs first team. A spell playing for Hendon in the early 1960’s followed a move to West Ham United where Peter played for their first team on occasions, and it was to be the start of a long career in the game, and the former goalkeeper would later play for the likes of Exeter City and Gillingham in the Football League. I recently had the great pleasure and privilege of speaking with Peter about his time at Spurs during the 1950’s.

What are your earliest footballing memories?

Peter: That would be playing with the Cubs football team when I suppose I was about seven or eight, and then soon after that I started playing for the school team. And I played for the school team which was the under 11’s when I was about nine, but I was a defender then and I played wing-half for the first year and centre-half for the next two years for the junior school. 

What are your earliest memories of your time at Spurs and how did you come about joining the club?

Peter: Well I played for the London under 16’s against Glasgow and obviously Spurs had some scouts there because I was invited to a trial, along with two or three other lads who had played. So I had a trial at Tottenham and after the trial one of the coaches or one of the people who ran the youth team came up to me, and they said that Arthur Rowe who was the manager at the time was interested in me joining the club they said that I was number one at the top of his list. Well obviously as I was a goalkeeper you would be the first one on the list, but anyway I sort of signed for Spurs as a schoolboy. When I actually left school I joined a firm of architects and Spurs then asked me to join the ground-staff, and so I left the firm of architects and owner of the firm told me that it was going to be a big mistake, but I went anyway. So I went on to what was called the ground-staff as you weren’t apprentices as such, and so I worked in the first team dressing room and I used to clean up and put the kit away and then run the baths for the player’s after training. Then we as a group would be allowed to train in the afternoons and in those days it was without much supervision, and we would just copy what we saw the main pros do. Occasionally a coach load of us would go out to the Cheshunt training ground and we would join in the training, but that was very, very rare and so it was nothing like today with the Academy’s and that sort of thing where you have an individual coach for the first team.

Did you have any footballing heroes/inspirations and if so who were they?

Peter: Without television our heroes were from paper headlines and as I developed in the goalkeeping I was interested in Sam Bartram who was goalkeeper at Charlton Athletic, and he might have played one or two games for England as well. Of course Stanley Matthews was a big name in those days but it was all through the newspapers really because we didn’t get the opportunity to see players like people do now. 

 Could you describe to me what type of goalkeeper you were during your time at Spurs?

Peter: I was very vociferous with the people in front of me right from the start, and I would try and pull defenders about and make sure that they were picking up and that sort of thing. My long goal kicks were very powerful but I sort of worked on angles really, more than anything else and so for me it was about cutting down angles and that sort of thing. I did have my chance to get to a higher level but I just lacked a little bit of something and who knows what that was.

Who were your greatest influences at Spurs?

Peter: Ted Ditchburn who was the goalkeeper was the player who I would look up to as an inspiration but I didn’t have a lot of contact with him, although in one game I played at Tottenham itself but I’m not sure if it was a youth team or a reserve match. Anyway I had came out and punched a ball and then the next day Ted came to me and said oh I hear that you have punched a ball? And so I said oh yeah I did, and then he said well if you do that again I’ll sort of kick you kind of thing, and that was as far as the coaching went! 

Were there any players at Spurs who you would watch closely to try and improve your game or look to learn from?

Peter: For me it was all about goalkeeping and as you understand it is such a specialised position compared to everybody else. We didn’t see many players like you do now so really it was just the goalkeeping staff at the club, the ones that were ahead of me. Johnny Hollowbread and a man called Frank Smith were third and fourth ahead of me and also Ron Reynolds was there then, so they along with Ted Ditchburn were the four goalkeepers in front of me.

What prompted you to leave Spurs and could you talk me through your career after you left the Lilywhites?

Peter: At one stage I was five days too old to play for the youth team and they had a first team, an A team and a reserve team of full professionals and so that laid me fifth in line. Someone who was connected to the youth team asked me if I would be interested in going to Hendon (I suppose it would be a loan spell now) as they had injury problems and this was right at the start of the season and so I said yes I was interested. So that was how I sort of left the club but then of course national service came soon after that and so I was out of the club for two years and I was then playing amateur football while I was in the army. Part of my army career sent me to Cyprus and so Hendon obviously got another goalkeeper but when I came back I joined Kingstonian, and then the next season Hendon invited me back and we won the FA Amateur Cup that year and went to Wembley to play in the final which was the 1959/60 season. And during that season we played against West Ham in a cup that isn’t run now but the senior clubs in London used to put a reserve team out against senior amateur clubs in a cup competition. We were drawn against West Ham and in that game I must have played reasonably well because the goalkeeper at the time came up to me after the game and said was I interested in turning pro, but I said that I wasn’t really as I said I was too old, as I was 21 at the time. Anyway after that they followed me all of that season as they used to have a representative at basically every game that I played at, but I said that I wouldn’t leave Hendon until we went out of the Amateur Cup. So we went all through the cup and won it and so then at the end of the season I joined West Ham and although I had already been at a professional club in Tottenham I hadn’t trained with the professionals, and so it was quite a culture shock to start training with the professionals.

Within a few weeks at West Ham I had gotten into the first team and I had a few games in the first team with players like Bobby Moore and Kenny Brown, and so I played six matches and then I got dropped. During that season West Ham changed manager and Ron Greenwood came in and at the end of the season he released all of the goalkeepers except one and so I was on my way somewhere else. From West Ham I went to Portsmouth where I got into the first team after a season there and I played a number of games although I was in and out of the side, but I had two or three years there without playing too many games in the first team. So after about the second or third season they released and I then went on to Exeter, and I played there for a couple of years before being transferred to Plymouth and was there a couple of years before then being transferred back to Exeter. However, I had broken my arm after returning to Exeter towards the end of the season and so I didn’t play for quite a long time, and they then got another goalkeeper in and so I did a loan spell at Bristol Rovers and then at the end of that season I was released. I then went from there to Gillingham as a friend from my days at Plymouth asked me if I would like to join him as the number two, but I didn’t go there to play as I had sort of retired. So I used to take the training and help with the injuries and all that sort of thing, but then the goalkeeper got injured and the manager at the time had told me to stay fit just in case we have a problem and so I ended up playing about 40 games in the next two seasons. During that period we won promotion but then the manager moved on to Charlton and he had asked me to go with him and so I went with him for a couple of years, but then we parted company and I came out of pro football in 1973.

What was your time at the Lilywhites like on the whole?

Peter: I found that they didn’t have a lot of interest in the younger players and we used to clean the dressing rooms and put the kit up in dryers and then help put it out for training. So we didn’t have a lot of help as youngsters I didn’t think but I wasn’t there very long and then of course national service came in but when I came out of national I went back to Spurs as they were duty-bound to take me on for six months, as any employer had to take you on. Spurs offered me a professional contract but because of the number of goalkeepers that they had I said no and so I carried on at Hendon.

What was the greatest moment of your footballing career?

Peter: Winning the FA Amateur Cup was pretty good but as a professional my home league debut for West Ham against Manchester United when we beat them 2-1 was a pretty good moment. I played with Bobby Moore and when you look back he was such a big name and so to say that I played with him is quite something. 

 Who was the greatest player that you have had the pleasure of sharing a pitch with? 

Peter: Funnily enough when I was in the youth team at Tottenham we obviously used to play Chelsea and Jimmy Greaves played for them, and both our paths crossed on quite a few occasions. I suppose you would say that Jimmy was one of the great players, but at Tottenham because I didn’t play with the real stars you were in awe of them really when you used to see them training and that sort of thing, and so then you had Danny Blanchflower and also Len Duquemin was the centre-forward, but not playing in the first team and only playing in the odd reserve game you didn’t see them play that often really, because you would be away playing matches when you were playing at home. 

What was your then Spurs manager Jimmy Anderson like?

Peter: Managers in those days were quite distant and the only time that you would really see Jimmy Anderson was in his office as he didn’t come on the training ground at all as Bill Nicholson was in charge of the training. Even the manager at West Ham you would very rarely see out coaching players as they would come to watch the training, and so managers in those days were almost aloof really and when I think back now I think what was their job? I suppose that they picked the team and just said to the coach get on it, and so the idea of a manager really changed over the years while I was in football.

Could you talk me through some of your favourite memories or ones which stand out from your time in the various Tottenham youth teams?

Peter: To me it was just a thrill to be in the youth team and I would play regularly as well as playing a few games in the A team and one game in the reserve team. I just loved playing and that was the thing and it was just great to be at a big club, and to think that they were interested in you was enough.

What was it like to play for Spurs in the Eastern Counties League?

Peter: Those were quite long trips really for me in those days as you would go out to Biggleswade or wherever. When I look back quite a few people from that team broke through into the first team and it was a surprise when they did because you didn’t see the first team that much and you just thought that they were great, and so you didn’t realise that the people lower down would break into that level, so it was quite interesting really.

 Who was toughest player that you ever came up against?

Peter: I suppose the biggest dressing-down that I got was after having played in the 2-1 win for West Ham against Manchester United as we went to United a couple of weeks later and lost about 6-1 I think, so that was a bit of a comedown really. Manchester United had Bobby Charlton playing and Johnny Giles before he went to Leeds, and so they just overwhelmed us up there but mind you they did have a bit of luck as well but that’s just how it goes.

 Were there any players at Spurs who you were particularly close to?

Peter: Freddie Sharpe was one and a man called John Titt and also Norman Lee, so they were all on the ground-staff with me and so we were together all of the time and we would play table tennis and snooker as well as training together. But on another level we were not really close because we just used to go in and do the job and just go home. At senior level Ted Ditchburn was always very pleasant to me being a fellow goalkeeper, and when you were around the dressing rooms everybody would be pleasant enough but you were just a lad in the boot room sort of thing.

What were former Spurs goalkeepers Ted Ditchburn, Ron Reynolds, Johnny Hollowbread and Frank Smith like as goalkeepers?

Peter: Ted Ditchburn was coming to the end of his career when I was at Spurs and the strange thing about him was that he wasn’t a very good kicker of the ball but other than that he had great reflexes. Johnny Hollowbread also had great reflexes and Frank Smith was quite a big man but because you didn’t play in the same team as them you wouldn’t see them other than at the occasional trip to the training ground, because you were playing at the same time as the other players (the A team, the reserves and the first team), so you didn’t really see those players perform that much. Also in regards to Ron Reynolds you had Ted Ditchburn who was in and out of the England team it was rumoured that Ron Reynolds would more or less take his place when when he retired, but Ron went down to Southampton and then Johnny Hollowbread followed him. However, Ron was recognised as a very good goalkeeper.

What was it like to play against Spurs for Exeter City at White Hart Lane in the League Cup?

Peter: Well it was great for us and I always loved playing under floodlights and in that particular game funnily enough we took the lead very early on, and then just before half-time Jimmy Greaves broke through and as I came out to sort of go at his feet my long studs in my boots got caught in the ground. It was a very wet night and so I sort of stumbled and Jimmy slipped the ball under the net and equalised, and then in the second half we were just outplayed, but up until half-time we were in the game. So going to Tottenham with Exeter was just fantastic. 

 What would your advice be to the young Spurs goalkeepers of today as they look to break into the first team?

Peter: Work hard, listen to all of the advice that you get and just work hard at your game and not to be sidetracked by outsiders as you’ve just got to concentrate on your football. 

After all these years how do you look back on your time at the Lilywhites and is Spurs a club who you still hold close to your heart?

Peter: I was flattered to be asked to join Spurs and I enjoyed my time at Spurs and there is no doubt about that. I loved the atmosphere of being at a football club and mixing with all of the international players and I used to work in the dressing room so I used to see them all when they would come in in the mornings and get ready to go out training, and then also seeing them when they came in. So my time at Spurs was great and I loved it.